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He said: ‘The discovery of the red-deer
people opens the next chapter in the human evolutionary story - the
Asian chapter - and it's a story that's just beginning to be told.’

‘Alternatively, they might represent a very early and previously unknown migration of modern humans out of Africa, a population who may not have contributed genetically to living people.’

Three sets of remains were found at Maludong - Red Deer Cave' - in the Yunnan province in 1989. They were unstudied until 2008.

Analysis of skulls in the 'Red Deer' cave in China hints that the people might be a new species of humanoid

Early humans in the BBC series Planet of the Apeman: The 'Red Deer' people could have come from an early - and undocumented - migration of humans from Africa

A fourth was found in 1979 a cave near the village on Lonling in neighbouring Guangxi Zhuang province. It was encased in rock until 2009.

The skulls and teeth from both finds are very similar to each other and show an unusual mixture of archaic and modern anatomical features, as well as previously unseen characteristics.

Scientists have named them 'red deer people' because evidence suggests that they hunted extinct red deer and cooked them in the Maludong cave.

Until the discovery, no fossils younger than 100,000 years old had been found in mainland east Asia other than those of our own species, Homo sapiens.

This suggested that Homo sapiens had the run of the area which was devoid of our evolutionary ancestors once the first humans appeared.

But the new find suggests this may not have been the case.

Professor Ji Xueping, of the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology, said: ‘Because of the geographical diversity caused by the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, south-west China is well known as a biodiversity hotspot and for its great cultural diversity.

‘That diversity extends well back in time.’

In the last ten years scientists have discovered the enigmatic 'Hobbit' fossil in Asia as well as evidence modern humans interbred with ancient Denisovans, a species from Siberia.

The latest find shows there is more to learn from the continent, said Prof Curnoe.